Chapter 39: Fighting with Kentabuana
Jagat realized that he was in a difficult situation. He assumed a stance of readiness, feeling the adrenaline pumping through him. The four young men stared at him with sharp, suspicious eyes.
"It is nature's fate to bring us together again, you foul thief. You ran away from a fight with Kentabuana and now you want to steal our holy book?" said Kentabuana's senior disciple in a threatening tone.
Jagat took a deep breath and controlled the tension in his body. "It is not your book, your teacher also bought it from thieves.
The eyes of the four young men grew tense, but full of courage. He knew that fighting was the only way to get the book, and he could not back down.
"How presumptuous of you to insult our Grand Master!"
Jagat's words didn't seem to change the intentions of the four youths. They launched their attacks without warning.
Jagat retreated immediately, moving nimbly. He dodged every punch and kick thrown at him. He moved the fight to a more spacious spot so he could get a better view of his opponents.
"You won't get away this time, you thieving bastard!"
The one who shouted was Jagat's old enemy, a senior student who had a grudge against Jagat. The night he captured Jagat, his younger siblings were slaughtered by the Mongol army.
And at that very moment three of his juniors also imprisoned him in the same position. It was like a repetition of the old incident.
Without waiting, the senior student of the Kentabuana sect immediately stepped forward and threw a fast and hard punch at Jagat. Jagat quickly dodged the attack and countered with a kick to the young man's stomach. The fight began with incredible speed and toughness.
The two exchanged punches and kicks with great skill. Their every move was beautiful, yet deadly. Wijen Village seemed to tremble at the intensity of the battle taking place in the middle of the night.
Meanwhile, three of his younger siblings had joined the fight. Jagat had to deal with attacks from several directions. He used his speed and agility to dodge each incoming blow and kick. But it was undeniable that the strength and skill of the four young opponents had him on the ropes.
Jagat felt his adrenaline pumping as he tried to find an opening to overcome this situation. He tried to find a pattern of attack in each young man he faced. This is something he continues to explore with his new skill.
Every martial arts school is accustomed to having a pattern as an attack formation so that the opponent cannot read it and as a result will be pressured and unable to fight back.
This formation is practiced every day and has several levels. Because it is constantly practiced, it is like a standard and cannot be violated. If one person's movement is wrong, the other person's movements will also be affected. The formation can be broken.
But in this battle the opponent they attacked was Jagat. What they didn't know was that Jagat had a memory that exceeded that of ordinary people, both in his head and in his eyes and ears.
Everything he saw would be recorded and the cause and effect would be calculated. If an older student moves to one side, Jagat will see one of his younger siblings move in the opposite direction.
The same goes for the others who make similar postures and movements. Slowly, one by one, Jagat began to discover their weaknesses and it was time to test them by deliberately taking one of the punches.
*Thud!
Jagat's face and mouth twitched in pain as a punch landed hard. It came from the senior student's fist and he was quite happy about it. But in this attack, it was Jagat who was happy.
He had read the entire attack formation from beginning to end, because the purpose of this formation was to hit or knock down the opponent.
Since they were successful in hitting Jagat, the fight continued in the next round, i.e., the formation was repeated because it was successful.
So the fight started again. This time it was Jagat who started the attack, armed with the footage of the Kentabuana students' formation. The tension in the village grew. The sound of clashes and shouts broke the silence of the night. The villagers, tired from their day's work, came to the windows of their houses to watch this unexpected battle.
It was as expected. Jagat easily broke his opponent's formation with a single attack on the senior disciple.
As the leader, the senior student was at the center of all the movements of the formation. From the beginning, he had to stop his movements so that his three younger siblings could not continue the movement of the formation.
As a result, the three young disciples with so little experience did not want to be outdone. They continued to attack. They were eager to prove their skills.
"Hold it!"
The senior student shouted and immediately rolled aside. Jagat expected them to raise the level of the attack formation. But it would be useless, because the basis of this formation had already been read by him, so any increase would just be a variation of the same move.
Jagat's mistake was that he didn't immobilize one of his opponents quickly enough. The senior student seemed to realize immediately that his attacks were being read by his opponent.
Taking a deep breath, the senior student began to ask his three younger brothers to prepare a new attack formation.
But one of the younger brothers said, "Brother! Look!"
The senior student looked back in the direction his younger brother was pointing. There were several citizens and open doors watching their battle.
"This is Kentabuana's business! You go inside the house. Don't interfere!" the older student shouted at the villagers. But the villagers refused, and the younger brother who had warned them earlier came closer.
"We can't be seen by the people like this," he whispered.
Jagat, looking in the same direction, couldn't do anything. If the villagers were like this, the battle could not continue. The village guards, sometimes in league with Majapahit soldiers, could come at any time. Things would get worse.
For him, this book deal was not too important because Mandana had tricked him. But he had already gone deep inside. Whether the book was about her or not would not matter at all.
She just wanted to go home. She had had enough of all this. Everything would depend on Mandana's conversation with Kebo Galungan at his current school.
Mandana's request to join his group would affect tonight's events.
"I wanted to take the book on Arya Mandana's orders. So you can ask him directly later."
"Arya Mandana? Are you telling the truth?"
"I don't know how you know that I am a book thief, but I am not here to steal. The book is only a copy of the original. You can ask your teacher about it later."
Jagat just left without saying goodbye. He returned to his horse on the hill and rode toward Ki Rapala's house, Sawung Bumi. The spies Wirahasa had sent to watch Gendis were very worrying to him.
Or was it just Wirahasa's trick?
With him under house arrest, he certainly wouldn't have enough power to send spies, unless the Mongols were helping him.
And the last name is also very unlikely, since the Mongols are still royal refugees.
The only thing that makes sense is a spy from the black sect helping Wirahasa and Mongol. He must tell Mandana immediately that Wirahasa has been working with Mongol.
Ganzorig's presence in the palace was a careless move on Wirahasa's part because it exposed their secret to Jagat or .... it was left there on purpose.
Damn it!
What plan was in Wirahasa's mind? Why is he so good at reading martial arts moves but so bad at reading political moves?
There must be something behind it all. Sending himself to the palace when he should have visited Kentabuana. Don't forget about Wisesa, whose name was suddenly linked to the theft of the Book of Siluman, even though it was only a copy.
Whatever it was, he needed to see how Gendis was doing first. The martial world had not been doing well since the fall of Singosari.
It seems that old grudges have resurfaced after being suppressed by Singosari's power. And it seems that Majapahit has not been able to suppress them.
And perhaps the unification of all the white sects by Arya Mandana is part of this plan. For this, Mandana must have a magic book that is the strongest of the strongest.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, a dark force seemed to be planning something. The black sects had lost a unifying figure after their movements had been restricted by Singosari in the past.
Now they had sprung up like mushrooms in the rainy season. They had dared to be openly hostile to the white sect. It started with the movement from Kala Racun to Sawung Bumi.
And all the targets lead to the same thing, a book. Both the white sect and the black sect were obsessed with a book of magic. It was as if whoever had the book would be able to rule the martial world in Java.
Jagat didn't want to get involved, but he had to make sure that Mandana had finished his business with Kebo Galungan. And the only one who knew was Ki Rapala, the Grandmaster of Sawung Bumi.
The war between the white and black sects was probably going on right now. And he didn't want to get involved to protect the people around him.
He had to solve it, even if he had to come to their meeting.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone